T.I. paid a visit to The Daily Show this week, talking with host Trevor Noah about his "War Zone" video and the new season of The Family Hustle. At the end of their chat though, Noah asks how rapper's reconcile advocating for social change while rapping about violence and crime.

"First of all, people need to take into consideration that hip-hop traditionally has always been a reflection of the environment the artist had to endure before he made it to where he was," T.I. says. "So if you want to change the content of the music, change the environment of the artist and we won't have such negative things to say."

Last week, T.I. released the video for "War Zone," a striking depiction of what the country would look like were the roles of white citizens and black reversed. The visual imagines a world where white people are killed in the same manner that Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Philando Castile and many more have been.

"As disturbing as these images may be to watch on your television, just remember, these are fictional," T.I. says. "These things actually happened to people. These same events took the lives of fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, sisters. These things actually happened to us. As disturbing it may be for you to watch it in television imagine how uncomfortable it is for us to live through it in reality."

“War Zone” will appear on T.I.’s upcoming Us or Else EP, which the rapper explains came about almost out of necessity. "Over the summer, all of the travesties that took place in this country, I felt compelled to say something, do something. Out of a lack of other things to do, I just took to the studio and started speaking my mind. And it became a project out of nowhere. I just really want to create dialogue that will promote change."

Watch T.I.'s full interview up above.

 

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